The War of Wars
by SMH
Summary: Harry Potter, now 40, struggles to deal with his teenage children while engaging in a political firestorm with the new Minister of Magic.
1. Chapter 1

"I see your folks made the front of Witch Weekly," Scorpius Malfoy said.

Albus Potter cringed and grabbed the copy his friend was waving in his face to find his parents, Harry and Ginny Potter gracing the cover with his Aunt and Uncle, Hermione and Ron Weasley.

Albus began flipping through the magazine, still cringing.

"Relax, it's not like they talk about you much," Scorpius said, lighting a cigarette.

"Watch it. The prefects are monitoring smoking apparently," Albus said, turning to look around the school lawn. "Some girl in Huffelpuff got suspended."

"For smoking?" Scorpius asked, taking a drag.

Albus nodded and kept reading the magazine.

"Did you even read this?" Albus asked.

"No," Scorpius laughed. "But I knew it would bother you."

Albus turned around and glared at his friend.

"What's it about?" Scorpius asked.

"Anniversary of the battle. They'll be up here tomorrow for it," Albus said. "Is your dad coming?"

"Why? To remind everyone who he sided with? No, thank you."

Albus laughed.

"He's changed though, right?"

"Of course!" Scorpius said, slightly offended. He kept smoking while looking out onto the lawn at his fellow students. "Oh, shit. Your brother's coming."

Scorpius threw his cigarette in the grass behind him and leaned up against the same tree that Albus had chosen to lean against.

James Potter was headed their way, his prefect badge gleaming in the sunlight.

"Albus!" he said crossly. Albus looked up from his book to see his brother.

"What?"

"Were you smoking?" James asked.

"No, James," Albus said.

James stared at Scorpius. "You?"

"Merlin, no!" Scorpius said, pretending to be taken aback at the accusation.

James nodded, squinting at them as the sun hit his eyes.

"Ready for the match tomorrow?" Albus asked his brother.

"Hope so," James said, walking closer.

"Lily playing?"

"Yeah."

"Mum'll be happy," Albus said, smiling.

"Yeah. Well, I'll see you guys on the pitch tomorrow," James said, turning to leave.

Scorpius looked to Albus and frowned.

"What?"

"You two are so cold to one another," Scorpius said. "It's sad."

Albus shrugged and pulled his own pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and began to smoke.

Across the lawn, Albus's sister Lily Potter sat studying for her final exams. Lily was the smartest of her year. She could outperform almost every witch in the school—seventh years included.

Her friend Cora sat close to her, occasionally looking up from her book to watch Lily work on a transfiguration project while Rose Weasley, Lily's cousin read a book for leisure.

In between watching Lily and looking down at her studies, Cora looked across the lawn at Albus and Scorpius, who were laughing and enjoying themselves, as per usual.

"I can't believe your brother hangs out with Scorpius Malfoy," Cora said, shuddering.

"He's not that bad," Lily said, swishing her wand.

"He's not very nice to James or Hugo though," Rose said.

"That's because James and Hugo deserve it," Lily said.

"Deserve it?

"You've met them. They're terrifying together," Lily said. "They're so mean!"

"They are not," Cora said.

"You say that because you have a crush on Hugo," Lily spat.

"You what?" Rose asked, irate.

"I do not!" Cora said. She stood quickly and took her books, leaving their study group.

"She has a crush on my brother. Gross," Rose said. "Who would want to date Hugo anyway?"

"That's exactly how I feel about my brothers," Lily said, smiling.

"Did you see you mum and dad on the cover of Witch Weekly?" Rose asked.

"Cora showed me it this morning. I nearly vomited," Lily admitted.

"Did you see the article about them in Warlock Monthly?" Rose asked.

"I don't even know what Warlock Monthly is," Lily said.

Rose delved into her explanation. Warlock Monthly was a trashy tabloid magazine, often commenting on Wizard Society. And this month's topic was none other than the Potter family.

"That sounds awful," Lily said.

"It was," Rose said.

And in London, in the Ministry of Magic Auror offices, Harry Potter sat with his wife reading this trashy magazine.

_Mother Ginny is a former Quidditch player for England as a Chaser. And when their youngest child, Lily was born, she decided to retire and write for the Daily Prophet. Working for the Prophet obviously takes some time, so she has been a bit negligent as a mother. Uncle Ron, one of their father's closest friends is co-owner of his brother George's multi-million-galleon fortune—but we'll get to that later. Aunt Hermione, head of legal matters in the Ministry and Wizengamot Court member. Uncle Bill, head of Gringotts bank. Uncle George, the wealthiest man in England with his numerous joke shops and restaurants. Uncle Charlie, dragon tamer who always takes his favorite niece and nephews on a few dangerous rides._

_"These kids spend a lot of time with their family because their parents are often very busy. So they usually ask their parents if they can go to Albania to visit their Uncle Charlie. And when they don't visit there, they're helping out their Uncles George and Ron at their joke shop in London—where they employ all of his nieces and nephews. And Harry Potter, is actually an investor in the business, and has been since he was fourteen years old when George and his twin brother Fred decided to leave school and start their business. But when Fred died, George needed a new partner of sorts and Harry stepped in and helped George financially and suggested Ron to be co-owner of the store. Now, George Weasley and Ron Wealsey are the wealthiest men in England—which probably means Harry Potter isn't far behind," says Potter biographer Lila Mason. _

_These children live a charmed life. The three of them took flying lessons when they were younger from some of Britain's top Quidditch players. And whenever they have questions on magic, they can always turn to their father's colleagues. But where do these children with such charmed lives, actually live? _

_"These kids grew up primarily in Kent, with Harry and Ginny apparating to work. But when the kids go back to school in the fall, Harry and Ginny live in their London home—the legendary Grimmauld Place where all of those infamous meetings of the Order of the Phoenix took place during the second war. And when the kids come home, they usually go back to Kent for their summer holiday. If they don't want to go to Kent, they will stay in London to work for their Uncle George and Uncle Ron." _

_But how did we get all this information, you ask? We're not telling. Harry Potter rarely gives interviews or appears in public. And the only time any member of the family appears is for Ministry purposes. The children though, we're quite sure, may just break that rule and make a few appearances of their own—as each of them is set to inherit millions of Galleons through a trust fund set up by their parents. But for now, we'll just have to deal with the intensely private Harry and Ginny Potter. And if reports from The Witch Weekly are true, we'll be seeing an interview with the Potters, as well as Ron and Hermione Weasley to commemorate the anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts._

"Negligent!" Ginny yelled, slamming an article down on Harry's desk. "Me!"

"Yes, I know," Harry said, picking up the article. "Just calm down, Gin."

"No!" she yelled.

A knock came at Harry's office door. It was Ron.

"Hey, Gin," he said, entering the office. Ginny kissed her brother hello on the cheek and then Ron shook Harry's hand.

"I have to go start packing," Ginny said.

"See you at home," Harry said, smiling.

Ginny kissed him quickly and then exited the office. Harry stared at her out the door and waited until she was out of ear shot to begin his conversation with Ron.

"She's gone mental over that Warlock Monthly article," Harry said.

"Can you blame her?" Ron asked.

"No, but I don't know what to do! We can't stop these nut jobs from running these articles, can we?"

Ron shrugged.

"You are no help," Harry said.

"Hey, you know what I liked about this article?"

"What?" Harry asked.

"They called me the second richest man in England," Ron said, laughing.

Harry then threw his copy of Warlock Monthly at his brother-in-law and retreated to his desk.

"I saw Malfoy a bit ago," Ron said.

"Oh yeah? What'd he want?"

"He wanted to know if you had any free time today."

"Why?"

"Said he needed to talk to you. Didn't say about what though," Ron said.

"That's odd," Harry said.

"Hello?" a girl's voice said meekly. Harry and Ron turned around to look at the door for a moment. A pretty blonde girl was standing in the door frame, wearing dress robes.

"Anna, right?" Harry asked her. The girl nodded.

"I'll see you later, mate," Ron said, exiting.

"Tell Malfoy to stop by whenever," Harry said. Ron nodded and the girl walked further into the office upon his exit.

"Anna Growland?" Harry asked.

"Yes, sir," she said, shaking his hand.

Harry stood from his desk to walk to a file cabinet. He pulled out a folder and began to read from it, looking over her personnel file.

"Nice to meet you," he said, looking over her personnel file.

"Same to you. It's an honor."

"Do you know why you're here?" Harry asked her, sitting down and drawing up a chair for her.

She shook her head.

"I need a new assistant," he said blatantly. "And your name kept coming up a lot from the academy. And I—"

"With all due respect, sir. I can't."

"Excuse me?"

"I have a younger brother and sister to take care of. They're muggles. I need to put them through University soon and—"

"You're a muggle born? They didn't tell me that," Harry said. "Muggle borns make better Aurors in my opinion. They've seen more of the world than anyone else. They know human nature a little bit better."

"Sir—"

"I want you for this job, Anna."

"Sir, I—"

"Consider your brother and sister's schooling to be paid for. You will receive a five percent increase than what regular first years receive. Do you understand?"

Anna nodded.

"I thought you had an assistant though, Mr. Potter?" Anna said.

"I have eight," Harry replied, sighing whilst reading Anna's record. "My god, your grades were fantastic."

"Eight?"

"Yes, you will be in charge of all of them," he said.

"I—"

"You're more qualified than the rest of them, trust me," Harry said.

At that moment, one of the eight assistants entered the room and waved his arms in a clock-like motion and then left the office promptly. Harry sighed.

"What was that?" Anna asked, slightly alarmed.

"That's the sign that my godson is coming," Harry said.

Teddy Lupin, twenty-three now, entered the office wearing sunglasses and wearing disheveled clothing.

"Hello," he mumbled, leaning up against the wall.

"Hi," Harry said, smiling. "I'm in the middle of something, Teddy."

Teddy looked to Anna.

"Oh."

"That's OK. I can go," Anna offered, standing.

"I'm sorry. We'll get to more of this on Monday," Harry said to Anna.

"I look forward to it," Anna said. She extended her hand and shook Harry's, grasping it firmly.

"Say, you two know each other?" Harry asked, gesturing between Anna and Teddy.

"No," Teddy answered.

"We went to school together, actually," Anna corrected him.

"I drank a lot in school," Teddy replied, flipping up his sunglasses to look at Anna properly.

"Like a fish. I remember. You threw up on a house elf when I was a sixth year," Anna said, smiling.

"You told me that wasn't true," Harry shot at Teddy.

Teddy grinned.

"I was young, Harry," Teddy laughed. Teddy kept staring at Ann though. "I don't remember you that much."

"Well, how could you with your tongue down every other girl's throat?"

"I like you already," Harry laughed. "Can already keep up with everyone else's wit."

"And how did I manage to not notice you?" Teddy asked, ignoring Harry.

Anna laughs. "I hung out in the library a lot and only dated Quidditch players."

"Did I date one of your roommates?"

"You stood one up once and gave on of the other ones a pregnancy scare," Anna said.

"Ahh, youth," Teddy said, looking at Harry. Harry shook his head at his god son.

"I'll see you Monday, Mr. Potter," Anna said.

"Bye, Anna," Harry said.

After Anna had left, Harry swatted Teddy on the arm.

"What is wrong with you? I fought with McGonnagal for weeks about that house elf incident!"

"Harry, I was a fall down drunk during school. What do you expect?" Teddy asked.

"Speaking of that, how was your meeting today?" Harry asked.

"Good."

"You went?"

"Yep."

"You lying?"

"Nope. I even took Andrew with me as a witness," Teddy said.

"Good."

"We're going to be late. Ginny's going to be mad," Teddy said.

"Oh, right," Harry said, looking down at his watch. He grabbed his things and just as he was about to leave, Draco Malfoy walked into Harry's office.

"Oh, you're leaving!" Malfoy noted. "I thought Weasley—"

"He did. I'm sorry. I forgot," Harry said, putting his things back down. "Teddy, wait outside."

"Why?"

"Just wait outside," Harry instructed.

Teddy rolled his eyes and then exited the office, shutting the door.

The years had been kind to Malfoy. He was still handsome in the face and still had a glorious head of blond hair. After the war, he managed to find a job with the Ministry while his father and mother served time in Azkaban. Draco himself finished his Hogwarts degree and then spent years with the Ministry of Magic, trying to reach it to the top without his past creeping up on him.

"God son giving you trouble?" Malfoy asked.

"No more than usual," Harry laughed.

"I talked to Scorpius yesterday. He said they're ready for the match tomorrow," Draco said.

Harry nodded.

"He's a good captain from what I hear," Harry said.

"I think it's kind of ironic. Don't you?" Draco said to Harry, smiling.

"What?"

"That you and I were probably the worst enemies that Hogwarts has ever seen and our sons are best friends."

"Albus is a good kid. And from what he has told me about Scorpius, it seems as if he is too," Harry said nicely.

"Good. With that being said, I'm here to warn you," Draco said promptly.

Harry laughed a bit. "Warn me?"

"Yes."

"About what?"

"The Minister," he replied. Harry turned his head a little and started paying attention to him.

"Percy? I think I know what to expect from my own brother-in-law. Thanks though."

"The new minister, Potter," Draco said quietly.

Harry looked down at the floor at the mention of the new minister. He had heard rumors about the man and none of them good.

"What about him?"

"Seems he wants to…bring about the old ways."

"The old ways?"

"The ways that my father used to want," Draco said, leveling with him a bit.

Harry's eyebrows raised. He had never expected Malfoy, or anyone for that matter, to be that direct about the Minister's intentions.

"How do you know this? I mean, I've heard rumors. But rumors are rumors," Harry said.

"He and my father are old friends. Grew up together. Their parents were all friends."

"Draco, please, we already won the war. There's enough people to overtake any kind of uprising that—"

"Less than you'd think."

"What do you mean?"

"Children of Death Eaters want their revenge, Potter. And they want it on you and the Weasley family. And former Minister Shackelbolt and anyone that was associated with Dumbledore."

"The new Minister isn't a child of a former Death Eater," Harry said. "You are."

"Potter, I was a Death Eater. You know that. Everyone knows that. That's why I have a low-paying job and am at the bottom of the Ministry food chain—hence why you, Dumbledore's golden boy, is the highest paid Ministry faculty member next to the Minister himself."

"What is your point, _Draco_?" Harry asked, getting irritated very quickly now.

"My point is, that this Ministry, will end up worse than Scrimgeour's ended."

Harry nodded and said, "Anything else?"

"You're going away this weekend right? The Anniversary of the Battle?"

"It's tomorrow. Why?"

"You're spending the whole weekend at Hogwarts?"

"Yes."

"Now, I know that if I were the new Minister, I'd be walking through every department of the Ministry this weekend then—with all the heads of the departments at Hogwarts. The Auror department in particular. All changes that are going to be made Potter, will start with your department—because he wants the boy who lived on his side more than anything."

Teddy stepped back inside the office. "Harry, Ginny's going to kill us."

"I'll be right there," Harry said.

Malfoy leaned into Harry, whispering, "Make sure your office is locked."

Harry nodded and shook Malfoy's hand. Malfoy then left the office in a swift motion and as he exited, Teddy entered.

"What did he want?"

"Not important," Harry insisted. "You go ahead. I'll be there in two seconds."

"Harry, she's gonna be mad at me. And…and, I can't handle that all by myself," Teddy insisted.

"I'm sorry, are we talking about Ginny or Victoire?" Harry shot at him.

"Not funny!" Teddy snapped. With that, Teddy disapparated leaving Harry along in the office.

Harry whipped out his wand and began placing hexes and spells over everything in his office; his desk, his file cabinet, his private stash of Firewhiskey and even photos of his family that were prominent fixtures on his desk.

Teddy arrived at the Hogwarts front gates, along with several other witches and wizards, many of whom Teddy had seen at Ministry party after Ministry party. He walked up the familiar path to the school, arriving at the castle doors where Ginny waited for him.

"There you are!" Ginny said. She was immediately crestfallen noticing Teddy was alone. "Where's Harry?"

"He's on his way," Teddy mumbled. "Right behind me."

"On his way? I told him he had to be out of there by two!" Ginny yelled, looking down at her watch.

"I know! I told him that too!"

Ginny sighed and began looking through the oncoming crowd of Ministry of Magic officials. She then looked back to Teddy, who was also anxiously surveying the oncoming crowd.

"She's inside already," Ginny said.

"What?" Teddy asked, confused.

"Vic is inside already. They got here about an hour ago," Ginny informed him.

"Oh, I don't…I don't care," Teddy said. Ginny glared at Teddy which then garnered an admission of, "Fine. I care."

"I know you do," Ginny replied. "Did you go to your meeting today?"

Teddy nodded.

"You should tell her that," Ginny insisted. "She'd be very proud of you."

Victoire had broken up with Teddy after growing tiresome of his partying lifestyle. Their breakup was brutal, often causing arguments between Harry and Bill, as well as Ginny and Fleur.

"I haven't seen her in over a year, you know?" Teddy said. "I'd doubt she'd want to speak to me anyway."

"Why don't we go inside? I doubt he's just 'right behind you' as he says," Ginny suggested. Teddy nodded in agreement and followed Ginny into the castle.

They walked along the corridors, looking around and noticing that memorial plaques had been set up throughout the walk to the Great Hall. Ginny passed one with her brother Fred's name on it while Teddy stared at one with his mother and father's names engraved on it with a photo of them above their names.

"Hermione and I would beg your mum to do this stupid thing with her nose. She could turn into any animal's nose. So we'd basically make her do tricks for us at the dinner table," Ginny recalled fondly to Teddy. "They were so funny together. Your mum and dad. Remus was so proper all the time. Tonks brought him out of his shell."

"Mum!" Ginny heard. She turned and found that her eldest son, James, was walking toward them. She hugged James tightly and kissed him on the forehead.

"Mum," he groaned, wiping his forehead. "Where's Dad?"

"He's—"

"On his way?" James guessed.

"Exactly," Ginny said, beginning to walk with Teddy and James. "Where are your brother and sister?"

"Lily's studying still. And Merlin knows where Al is," James said.

"Go find him."

"Mum, I can't just go barging into the Slytherin dungeons," James reminded her. "Like I'd want to anyway."

Yes, his brother was a Slytherin. After generations of Potters in Gryffindor, Albus became the first Slytherin. His father had told him that the Sorting Hat takes personal choice into consideration. On that particular September 1st, Albus met a girl on the train. Her name was Katie. She was beautiful with blonde hair and fair skin with blue eyes. She was perfect in his mind. And she told him she wanted to be a Slytherin—and after she told him that, he wanted to be a Slytherin as well. They were friends for the first two years of school, and by third year, they had become boyfriend and girlfriend. In the middle of fifth year, however, Albus began growing restless in his relationship and broke it off.

"Maybe he's with Katie," Teddy suggested. James scoffed.

"What?" Ginny asked.

"He and Katie broke up months ago. Like before Christmas," James informed them.

Suddenly, James felt an arm creep around his neck and bending him backwards. James looked up and found that it was Albus who was pulling on his neck.

"Talking about me?" Albus asked his older brother.

"Just telling mum how we're facing a subpar team tomorrow," James retorted. Albus let go of his hold on James's neck and hugged his mother.

"Let me guess. Dad's on his way?" Albus said, laughing.

"Very astute," Ginny said.

The four of them continued walking down to the Great Hall and seated themselves with the rest of the Weasley clan. Teddy latched onto Albus and sat at the end of the table, trying to avoid Vic and the rest of her immediate family.

On the lawn, Lily still sat outside attempting to perfect a charm. They were to turn a blade of grass into a sword. The grounds were entirely empty. She was the only one still studying—even though she really didn't need to.

"Swish your wand a little bit more," a voice said. Lily looked up and saw Richard Biel, a sixth year and friend of her brother James's was now standing over her trying to read her text book.

Lily tried the technique with her wand, and the grass became a sword immediately.

"Impressive," he said, sitting down. "Most seventh years can't even do that."

Lily smiled.

"You look very pretty today," Richard said.

"Thank you," she replied, blushing slightly. Lily looked at Richard closely and noticed he looked exactly how Teddy had looked for most of his life. Richard's eyes were tired, his face flushed and that his speech had been a little slurred. He had been drinking.

"You excited for the match?"

"Uh…not really," Lily replied. "My…my father's coming and he's not too keen on me playing Quidditch."

"Why?"

"Thinks my brothers play too rough."

"Wasn't your mother a Quidditch player?"

"Yes. Apparently that means nothing. He has to protect me," Lily laughed.

Richard inched closer to her, causing Lily to grow a little uncomfortable.

"So um…you and Rupert ended things, then?" Richard asked.

Lily looked at him in surprise. "Oh. Yeah. Months ago."

"Good."

"Good?" she asked skeptically.

"You deserve someone nice."

"He was nice."

Richard shrugged, still coming closer to her, this time putting his arm around her waist.

"You know I've always had a thing for you," Richard said.

Lily held up her arms in protest, but Richard leaned forward and kissed her. She pushed him away.

"What are you doing?"

"C'mon, Lily. You know you've always had a thing for me," he said softly.

Lily pushed him back again as he leaned in.

"Stop it!" she yelled, standing up.

Richard stood up as well, towering over her. He grabbed her hands and held tightly.

"Get away from me, Richard," she said forcefully. "You're drunk."

"Am I?" he asked quizzically.

"Yes. Please stop or I'll get James," she threatened.

"Oooh, I'm scared of your prefect brother," he lamented.

"Lily!" a voice yelled. Lily looked to her right and noticed Scorpius Malfoy walking on the lawn with his girlfriend. She gave a sigh of relief.

"You OK?" Scorpius asked, walking closer. The closer he walked, the more Richard's grip on her hands loosened.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Lily said. She finally managed to disengaged her hands from Richard's and grab her things.

"We're going to walk up to the castle. You should come," Scorpius encouraged her.

"Yeah, thanks," Lily agreed.

Lily grabbed her things and began to walk away with Scorpius, before giving an evil stare to Richard.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Lily walked along the corridor with Scorpius in complete silence. His girlfriend had left them once they passed the entrance to the Slytherin dungeons.

"You sure you're OK?" Scorpius asked her. Lily nodded again.

"Don't tell my brother. He'll…he'll do something stupid," she finally said.

Scorpius nodded.

"He didn't hurt you, did he?" Scorpius said.

"No, he uh…no. He didn't," Lily affirmed.

They walked further into the castle, coming across the main entrance where Harry Potter walked through, hoping he could avoid seeing anyone.

"Dad?" Lily asked, spotting him as Harry tried to walk along the wall, blending in with the rest of witches and wizards entering the Great Hall.

Harry turned and looked to Lily, trying to hide his face from the others who were still entering the building. Lily ran forward and hugged him, grabbing onto his shirt tightly.

"Hi," Harry said, slightly surprised by his daughter's affection.

"Hi," she said.

"Everything OK?"

"Yeah, I just um…I've missed you," Lily lied. "I thought you'd be here already?"

"No, um, I had to take care of a few things at the office."

"Mum's going to be mad at me. I was supposed to be at dinner an hours ago," Lily said.

"I'm sure she'll forgive you considering I was due here at two," Harry laughed.

* * *

In the Great Hall, Albus and James sat at the table, with their heads in their hands. Teddy was half asleep.

"How much longer are we going to have to sit here?" Albus asked his older brother.

James shook his head miserably. They had been in the Great Hall almost all night, while Ministry of Magic officials and others approached the table with the Weasleys.

"Where is Lily?" James asked irately.

"Forget Lily. Where's Dad?" Albus asked. "All these people are here for him."

James nodded. He looked down the table and noticed all of his cousins had the same look on their faces—absolute boredom.

"Look at it this way," Teddy said. "This is probably the first time you two have had dinner together in about four months."

Albus and James glanced at one another and then looked back to their respective dinners.

"Not my fault," Albus mumbled.

"You two are so cold to one another I need a jacket," Teddy noted.

"He started it," James said, pointing.

"Started what?"

"You know what!" James accused. "You have no…no…I don't know what it is, but you don't have it!"

"James, how many times do I have to tell you, I—" Albus cut himself off when he noticed their father, Harry, walk into the Great Hall with Lily right behind him.

Harry and Lily walked into the Great Hall only to be met with audible gasps and whispers. They headed over to the Gryffindor table and Harry immediately took a seat next to Hermione.

"Where have you been?" Hermione asked him.

"Nowhere," he lied.

"Ginny's been covering for you like a madwoman," Hermione said. Harry nodded and looked throughout the hall, trying to spot his wife. She was now conversing with a few old classmates including Cormac McLaggen.

Lily sat down next to James, tucking her hair behind her ears.

"Where have you been?" James hissed at her.

"I was studying," she snapped.

"We've been here the whole time! We're dying!" Albus said, leaning across the table to converse with his siblings.

"You were studying?" James asked her. "You could've at least lied to me and told me you were practicing Quidditch."

"I don't have to answer to you! You're not the boss of me, you twit!" Lily snapped again, raising her voice.

"Don't call him a twit!" Albus said to her, throwing a roll at her.

Lily caught the roll with her left hand and threw it right back at Albus. "What do you care?"

She then glanced at Teddy, awaiting his line of questioning.

"So did you…study something fun at least?" Teddy asked.

"Transfiguration," she answered.

"That's fun," Teddy said. "Sometimes."

"Dad was late too, you know," Lily said to them.

"Can we go now?" Albus asked James.

James looked around and found that his father had finally joined his mother to talk with their fellow classmates.

"Probably," James said.

"You can't just leave me!" Lily said.

"You mean like you left us?" Albus questioned.

Lily scowled and stabbed her dinner with her fork, shoveling it in her mouth out of spite. Albus and James slowly slid off their respective benches and tip-toed away—each of their cousins looking at them enviously. They made their way out of the Great Hall, saying hello to Ministry of Magic officials and then hello to a few fellow classmates and finally, they reached the corridor.

"Thank Merlin," James sighed. He looked down at his watch. "Damn, I'm late for rounds."

"I have them later,"Albus sympathized.

"James!" a voice yelled. The brothers turned to see Meredith Coulter, a beautiful sixth year girl walking their way. She greeted James with a kiss on the lips.

She then wrapped her arms around James's neck, kissing him on the cheek.

"Hey," she whispered, "we're going to a pub in Hogsmede. Do you want to come?"

"I'm late for rounds," James said, gesturing to his watch.

"Oh, please, James," she whined.

"I can't," he said, shrugging. "I'm sorry."

"Al?" Meredith asked, looking to Albus. James gave his brother a threatening look. Meredith was the point of contention when it came to James and Albus' relationship. Meredith was beautiful and kind and on more than one occasion, particularly after Albus had ended things with Katie, James had caught Albus staring at his girlfriend in a way that made him very uncomfortable—and what was worse was that Meredith was staring right back, partially because she was interested and partially because she was desperate for James' attention.

"No, I've got to study for potions," Albus said. "And then I have rounds."

"Suit yourselves. But, if either of you change your mind, I'll be out," Meredith said with a devilish smile. Meredith then engaged James in a long kiss that made Albus grow uncomfortable with every passing moment.

"Merlin," James whispered after the kiss ended.

"See what you'll be missing," Meredith taunted. "You two are no fun."

With that, Meredith began to walk away from them. James turned to his brother and glared.

"What?"

"Don't look at her that way," James scolded.

"I'm not looking at her in any way!" Albus denied. James made a face and then disappeared through the corridor.

Albus frowned and then turned the corner, running directly into a girl and knocking their heads together.

"Oh, Merlin, Albus!" the girl said, grabbing her forehead.

"Katie!" Albus said suddenly, looking down and realizing he had just butted heads with his ex-girlfriend. Katie's friends were walking behind her and stood back while the two had a moment.

"You OK?" he asked.

"I'm fine. Are you?"

"Yeah," Albus said, rubbing his forehead.

"I just uh…I was just uh talking to your mum."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. She wished me luck for tomorrow."

"Katie," one of the girls said. "We're going to be late."

Katie nodded and then turned back to her friends. "Yeah, I'll be right there. You go on without me."

The three girls nodded and left Albus and Katie be.

"Your hair looks nice," Albus noted. Katie's hair, usually straight, was now wavy and she was wearing a little more makeup than usual. "I mean, it always looks nice. You always look nice."

"Thanks," she said. "We're going to the pub for a bit. If you want to come."

"No, I've um…I've got studying to do. Potions. And then, rounds."

"And your parents are in town. So I'd doubt you'd want them to catch you drinking," Katie laughed.

"That too," Albus admitted.

"Katie," a voice said. Albus and Katie turned to see Christos Marcus, a seventh year Ravenclaw, walking toward them. Christos was tall, way taller than Albus with dark black hair and a Greek accent.

"Christos. Hi," Katie said, smiling.

"I thought you'd be out at the pub already," Christos said.

"Oh, I ran into Al and stopped to talk for a bit," Katie admitted.

"I've got to go anyway. I'll see you lot later," Albus said. Albus began walking away and Katie waved goodbye to him as Christos put his arm around her.

* * *

Hours later, while the entire school was in Hogsmede having the time of their lives, Albus sat all by himself in the common room. He was due to take over for Prefect rounds in about an hour.

The dungeon door opened and Scorpius walked inside with their other friend, David. They carefully crept up to Albus.

"What are you guys doing back so soon?" Albus asked.

David sighed, "We uh…we weren't really having the greatest time."

Albus nodded and went back to his book. While he was looking down, David nudged Scorpius' arm and pushed him forward to talk to Albus.

"Al," Scorpius started.

"What?"

"Look, I never said it out loud, but I really appreciated you taking care of that whole Narcissa thing," Scorpius said, suddenly.

Albus looked up at his friend and shrugged, "We're friends, why wouldn't I?"

Narcissa, Scorpius' sister, had had a miscarriage the year prior. Albus quietly brewed her a series of potions to make her feel better.

Albus went back to studying, concentrating on his reading while Scorpius spoke.

"Right. And sisters are important. Really important. You'd want to know if something were going on with Lily, wouldn't you?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Richard Biel—"

"Ugh, Merlin. What about him?"

"He's spreading rumors about your sister."

"What? That she's not really a good Quidditch player?"

"Merlin! Do you ever think about anything but Quidditch?!" David finally exploded.

Albus finally looked up, exasperated. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

Scorpius looked back to David and they both sighed again.

"He's saying that he and Lily…well…that they…that they slept together," Scorpius revealed.

"What?"

Albus dropped his book and stared at his best friend.

"David and I went to the pub tonight and he was there and he was talking about how he had slept with her," Scorpius said.

Albus turned to David, who merely nodded.

"No," Albus kept saying. "No, she's…she's fourteen years old!"

"I saw them on the lawn earlier tonight," Scorpius said. "He was coming on to her. Like, if I hadn't walked near them, Merlin knows what would've happened."

"That wretched—"

"I mean, is it…is it possible?" David stuttered.

Albus turned his wand on David and sent a tiny shockwave from his wand to David's fingers.

"I was just asking!" David said, jumping.

"What was he saying?" Albus wanted to know, standing.

"He was, I don't know, Al…it was bad," David stuttered.

"Bad how?"

"Bad in like the…way that...there were a lot of details," Scorpius said.

Albus stood and grabbed his wand from the closest table. He then stormed out of the dungeon and in a rage, sprinted up to the Gryffindor tower followed by David and Scorpius.

"What are you gonna do?" David asked.

"I don't know," Albus said, turning the corner.

"How are you going to get into the tower?" Scorpius asked.

"I don't know," Albus yelled. They bounded up the stairs, Albus with his wand at the ready and his two friends trying to keep up with him.

They reached the seventh floor, looking around at the different portraits.

"Which one is it?" Scorpius questioned.

Albus didn't answer. He truly had no idea. He had never been in the Gryffindor tower before.

"Which one of you," David started, looking at all the portraits, "opens to Gryffindor tower?"

None of the portraits answered him.

"I don't think it works like that," Albus said, patting his friend on the back.

The three boys then heard giggling and ruckus laughter as well as high heels clicking against the floors. And around the corner walked Meredith with three of her gigging friends.

"Oh, it's just Meredith," Albus said, sighing with relief.

"Albus!" she said happily. Meredith had evidently been drinking. She grabbed Albus into a hug.

"You OK?" Albus asked her.

"I'm fine," she slurred. "I just um…we went to the pub. Gosh, I wish you could've come with us."

Albus smirked and asked, "Why's that?"

"I've seen you drunk. You're funny," Meredith laughed.

"Do you know where Richard is?" Albus asked.

"Richard?" one of Meredith's friends asked.

"He's so vile," Meredith murmured.

"Yeah, Richard," Albus said. "I'm looking for him."

"Why?" Meredith asked.

"I just am," Albus said coldly.

"So strong and mysterious, Albus," Meredith noted, grabbing his hand.

Scorpius murmured, "Careful, Al."

Albus turned around and glared at his friend whilst holding onto Meredith's hand, making sure she didn't stumble.

"What's going on here?" a voice said.

They turned to notice that James was walking toward them. Meredith disengaged her hand from Albus' immediately. Meredith walked closer to James and greeted him with a kiss, giggling again.

"Well hello, red wine," James acknowledged, tasting whatever beverage Meredith had just consumed.

"It was sangria," Meredith corrected him.

"Are you drunk?" James asked her.

"A little," Meredith whispered.

"What are you guys doing?" James asked, noticing that Albus's wand was at the ready.

"Looking for Richard apparently," Meredith answered for Albus.

"Richard's in Hogsmede," James said.

"I need to talk to you," Albus demanded.

"I'm still on rounds," James said.

"For two more minutes," Albus retorted. "And plus, I take over next. I'll go with you for those two more minutes."

"Alright," James agreed. The two of them walked away from the Gryffindor tower, walking up two flights of stairs and to the Astronomy tower. They walked in silence until they reached the outside of the tower.

"Why are you always with her?!" James exploded.

"James—"

"She's my girlfriend, Al. You know that," he said. "She…Albus, I love her."

"We have classes together, James."

"And the hand holding?" James asked. "I don't think I ever have held Katie's hand! Ever!"

"She grabbed my hand. She was drunk, you saw her!"

"You're not after her?" James asked.

"I have my own stuff going on, James. Or have you forgotten?"

"You and Katie haven't been together in months! And that's when this madness started with you and Meredith! She's always talking about you. Always asking why the three of us don't hang out!"

Albus sighed and said, "I really need to talk to you. Can we leave this for later?"

"About what?"

"Lily."

"What about her?"

"Well, actually, it's more about Richard."

James cocked his head, and stared at his brother. "My friend, Richard?"

"Yeah, him. Look, James, he's spreading rumors about Lily."

"What about?"

"Rumors that they slept together," Albus said. James began to laugh.

"Don't be absurd!"

"James! Scorpius told me he heard him say stuff about her at the pub tonight!"

"Scorpius said that? Check your sources, Al. Richard would never say anything like that."

"That is such a lie!"

"If there was a problem, Lily would come talk to us about it!"

"Would she?" Albus challenged. "She's fourteen, James! She doesn't want us to know her personal life. Just like I don't want you or her to know what's going on in my personal life!"

"Albus, he couldn't say those things. I've never even heard him talk about any girl," James said dismissively.

"James, if you don't deal with this, I will."

"And what is that supposed to mean?"

"Maybe I tell my beaters to lose the game and only go after Richard tomorrow," Albus threatened.

"You wouldn't."

"I would, actually," Albus laughed.

James glanced at his brother and nodded. "OK. I'll talk to him."

"Thank you," Albus said. The two brothers shook hands and each went on their separate way through the tower.

* * *

In the morning, Lily sat by herself eating breakfast and reading the Daily Prophet. She wore her Quidditch gear already, ready to leave for the game at a moment's notice.

"Well, morning," a voice said to Lily. Lily looked to her left and saw that Liza Stringer, a sixth year Gryffindor, had sidled up next to Lily in the Great Hall. Liza was a tall, pretty girl who had been relatively hostile toward Lily since the beginning of the school year. Lily had been chosen as the new Seeker for the Quidditch team while Liza was cut from the team to make room for Lily.

"Hi, Liza" Lily said quietly.

"Have an interesting night last night?" Liza asked.

"Not really," Lily said, shrugging.

"Not what I heard," Liza said.

"What did you hear?" Lily asked unassumingly.

"That you slept with my ex-boyfriend. So, first you take my spot on the Quidditch team because of nepotism and then you sleep with my ex-boyfriend. Some friend you are."

"What?!" Lily asked, nearly yelling. "I didn't sleep with Richard."

"Really? Why were so late for dinner last night then? Everyone knows you were late. Your brothers were seething about it all night," Liza informed her.

"I…I was studying on the lawn," Lily said, shocked. "I…Richard, he was drunk. He was—"

"That's a nice excuse," Liza said. "But I don't buy it. I knew you always fancied him. And Meredith said I was mad!"

"No, I haven't!" Lily denied. "And I didn't sleep with him! Where did you hear this?"

"He was boasting about it in the pub last night. To everyone. I hope you used protection. Strong swimmers in the Biel family from what I hear."

"I did not have sex with him!" Lily hissed.

"Tell it to someone who cares," Liza said, standing.

Lily hung her head in her hands, and tears began to well up. When she brought her head back up, she noticed she was being stared at and pointed at by people she had never even met.

Lily stood up immediately and headed out of the Great Hall in order to walk to the pitch.

"Lily!" Albus yelled.

Lily turned round to find that Albus and the rest of the Slytherin team were walking behind her. Scorpius nodded to Lily and instructed the rest of the team to keep walking down to the pitch while Albus spoke with his sister.

"What?" Lily asked rather indignantly.

"You OK?"

"I'm fine," she lied.

"You ready for the game?" Albus asked her, pretending as if he believed her lie.

"Of course," she said.

Albus drew them to the side of the corridor.

"Albus, I really have to go down to the pitch and—"

"Lily, I…Well, people are talking."

Lily nodded, tears welding up in her eyes again.

"You heard it too?"

"Lily—"

Lily grabbed Albus' shirt out of frustration and pulled on it.

"I didn't. I didn't do that with him. He tried and I didn't," Lily sobbed. "I think…I think lots of people know! I think he told everyone he could! Or lied to everyone he could!"

"Why didn't you…Scorpius said he saw you guys last night. That Richard was trying to pry at you then. Why didn't you tell me?"

"It didn't seem important," Lily said. "And you know how you get. All hotheaded. Why did Scorpius tell you? I told him not to!"  
"He told me because the story didn't end there. Scorpius and David were at the pub last night when Richard told people. And they knew it wasn't true and they came to me!" Albus explained.

As he said this, the remainder of the Gryffindor Quidditch team walked down the corridor, James and Hugo leading them. Lily attempted to wipe away her tears as fast as possible.

"Quit fraternizing with the enemy, Lily," Hugo instructed his cousin.

"Give us a minute," Albus said. "James, care to join us?"

James looked at his brother and sister and veered off from the team's trail and stood with Lily and Albus.

"What's up?"

"This is what's up!" Albus said, pointing to their sister's tears.

"What? What's wrong?" James asked.

Lily was now crying so hard that she couldn't say anything.

"It's about what we talked about last night."

"Oh, that. Richard said he didn't do anything," James said, shrugging. "I believe him."

"Liza Stringer came up to her about ten minutes ago and taunted her about it! Our sister!" Albus said, gesturing to Lily.

"Liza Stringer's off her rocker, mate," James said. "We've got to go. Lily come on!"

"I'll walk with Albus," Lily finally managed to croak out. James glanced at his sister skeptically and then back to Albus.

"I warned you, James," Albus threatened. "I told you what I'd do to him."

"Fine! I will talk to him after the game. But not now. Please! This is the cup!" James said exasperated.

"No, now!"

"He said he didn't say anything, Albus. What do you want me to do? Beat him up. We don't know if this is true!"

"Yes! He's afraid of you!" Albus yelled.

"Lily!" they heard. Lily, Albus and James turned around and found that Rupert, a small and meek fourteen-year-old boy, was following them.

"Rupert, hi," Lily said quietly.

"Can I talk to you alone, please?" he asked.

"I'd prefer if you didn't," Albus said immediately.

"Albus—"

"Whatever he has to say, he can say in front of us," Albus said, cutting his sister off.

"It's Rupert. He wouldn't harm a fly!" Lily battled.

"In front of us," Albus demanded.

"Fine!" Rupert huffed. He turned to Lily and puffed up his chest, near tears.

"I heard a rumor about you last night," Rupert said.

"Oh Merlin," Abus sighed. James' ears perked up and he listened to Rupert.

"Rupert—"

"How could you sleep with him?" Rupert yelled at her. "How? You wouldn't even…well, Lily, you wouldn't even do lesser things with me!"

"I didn't sleep with him," Lily insisted.

"He's telling everyone you did! Why should I believe you?"

"Because I wouldn't do that with someone I barely know!" Lily yelled back. She began to fully cry again and walked further down the corridor away from her brothers.

"Do you see?" Albus questioned James. "Did you see that? Rupert! Rupert heard it!"

"Al—" James tried to say. But before he could get out his sentence, Albus had taken off through the castle. James ran to catch up with him, with Lily and Rupert trailing behind.

Albus ran outside, the Gryffindor team now within sight and the Slytherin team walking just ahead of them. Richard was leading the march down to the pitch. Making his way down the field and through the Gryffindor team, Albus sailed through the air, landing on Richard's back and pulled him to the ground. He punched Richard as hard as he could in the mouth, with Richard struggling to fight back.

The Slytherin team, hearing the commotion, turned round from their walk to the pitch and ran back to watch their captain fight. James and Lily finally caught up with their brother, watching as he pummeled James' friend.

"Al, stop it!" James kept yelling. He pulled out his wand and created a small explosion between Albus and Richard, separating them finally. James pulled Albus off the ground and took note of the damage that had been done.

Richard's nose was broken and twisted to the left, blood emerging profusely. His eyes were both encircled by bruises already and he had a gash on his forehead.

Albus had fared far better with only a black eye and a cut up lower lip.

James backed Albus up and placed him next to Scorpius, forcing Scorpius's hand around Albus's waist in case he tried to lunge.

Richard struggled to stand, trying to control the blood coming out of his nose. James approached him.

"You OK?" James asked.

"Your brother's mental," Richard managed to say.

"Not the first I've heard that," James said. James looked around and noticed that a larger crowd of people that had gathered, watching carefully. And then, he made eye contact with his sister. Lily still had tears in her eyes and when James made eye contact with her, she looked down immediately.

"Did you…did you actually say that about her?" James asked him.

"What? No!" Richard denied.

"Richard, did you or did you not?" James asked, holding his wand to Richard's throat now. James looked around noticing that a few people were whispering. He sighed and faced the crowd.

"Who heard a rumor about my sister from Richard?" James asked loudly.

A slew of hands shot up from the crowd.

James turned around to find that Richard had slunk away, escaping into the crowd and eventually found himself on the lawn running toward the forest. James sprinted down the lawn after his friend and eventually caught up to him with the entire crowd following, Albus leading the pack.

James caught up with Richard and dodged spell after spell. Richard was throwing every hex he knew at James, but James was a fast runner. He managed to tackle Richard to the ground and resume the same type of battle that Albus had started. But first, James wrestled Richard's wand from his hands and threw it into the crowd behind them.

"James! McGonagal's gonna kill you!" Hugo kept yelling.

"Worth it!" James yelled back.

Richard punched James in the face, knocking out James's two front teeth. James gasped in pain, while blood poured out of his mouth. He clapped his hands over his mouth, feeling where his teeth used to be. In that time, Richard took advantage and punched James again, this time in the stomach, knocking his opponent to the ground.

Albus began taking a step forward to assist his brother when Lily stopped him. She pulled out her wand and yelled a spell Albus had never heard of. Instantly, Richard was hanging upside down and every time Lily moved her wand, Richard went in the same direction.

Albus picked up James's missing teeth and then pulled his brother from the ground. They walked over to their sister as Richard squirmed high above them. Lily kept lowering and raising her wand, twirling it sometimes, and even moving it back and forth horizontally.

"We should move this to the lake," James suggested.

"Agreed. Do you want to take over?" Lily asked him.

"Yeah," James said. James drew his wand from his pocket and placed another movement spell on Richard, giving him control.

"I'll join in if you don't mind," Albus said, pulling out his wand.

* * *

In the pitch, Harry sat quietly by himself while Ginny, Ron and Hermione chatted with friends. Ginny excused herself from their friends and sat next to Harry, kissing him on the cheek.

"You're in a mood," Ginny noted, bushing away Harry's hair.

Harry shrugged.

"Bad memories," he said.

"Same," she said, tightening her grip on his arm.

"Game should've started ten minutes ago," Harry noted. "The teams aren't even here yet."

Ginny looked over to the part of the pitch where the teams usually entered from and noticed Harry was right—none of them were there.

"Mr. Potter!" Scorpius yelled. "Mr. Potter!"

Harry and Ginny turned to see Scorpius running up the stairs, completely out of breath.

"What is it?"

"They're gonna kill him. I mean, I don't like him that much. But they're gonna kill him!"

"Who?" Ginny asked. "Who's going to kill who?!"

"Al and James. They're gonna kill Richard Biel if you don't stop them!"

"Where are they?" Harry asked, standing.

"On the lawn!"

* * *

Teddy ran ahead of Harry and Ginny. He reached the lake and found that Richard was hanging over the lake while James and Albus sat cross-legged, controlling his every move. The crowd clapped every time they lowered him to the water, allowing him to skim the top of the water without actually submerging him.

"Please let me down, James," Richard begged.

"No," James said, twirling his wand.

"Please," he begged again.

"No."

"We're gonna be late for the game," Richard said, trying to reason with him.

"Then we're late for that game," James shrugged.

"What are you doing?!" Teddy yelled at them. "Your parents are going to kill you!"

"Again, totally worth it," James replied.

"What did he do?" Teddy asked.

"Do? What did he do?" James mused aloud. "Richard, why don't you tell Teddy what you did?"

"James, please," Richard begged.

James whirled his wand faster and faster, causing Richard to turn faster and faster.

"Fine!" Richard barked. "I told people I slept with Lily."

"And did you?" Albus asked loudly.

"No!" Richard said.

"Carry on," Teddy said, backing up. As Teddy backed up, he walked right into Harry who was livid watching his sons torture another student.

"Expelliaramus!" Harry yelled. His sons' wands leapt from their hands and into Harry's. Richard was immediately plunged into the lake, thrashing about as he landed.

James and Albus immediately stood, their mother running up behind Harry with her wand at the ready. Ginny backed them up to the closest tree with their hands held in the air, surrendering.

"You two are in so much trouble, I can't even begin to explain the kind of punishment we'll be dolling out," Ginny said

"Mum, to be fair—"

"To be fair, nothing! You could've killed him!"

"He deserved it!" Albus yelled.

"Enough!" Ginny bellowed, her wand getting closer and closer to them. She turned to notice that Hugo and Lily were standing close by.

"And where were you two?"

"Well…he…did kind of deserve it Aunt Ginny," Hugo said.

"And you!" Ginny said, pointing to Lily. "You're the only one that can usually stop them."

"Mum—" Lily tried to start.

"To the castle," Harry ordered. "Now."


End file.
